Father of Mya Lyons held on no bail in daughter's brutal 2008 killing

January 19, 2011|By Jason Meisner, Tribune reporter

Ericka Barnes, left, the mother of slain daughter Mya Lyons, 9, tries to hold back tears as the girl's death is described by Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, right, on Wednesday. Barnes' ex-boyfriend, the girl's father, is charged with murder and was denied bail Wednesday. (Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune)

Cook County prosecutors revealed in court a largely circumstantial case — combined with blood evidence — as the father of 9-year-old Mya Lyons was ordered held without bail a day after he was charged in her 2008 killing.

Mya first suffered blunt-trauma injuries — including multiple skull fractures — before she was asphyxiated and stabbed more than 10 times, prosecutors said at a bond hearing Wednesday for Lyons' father, Richard, 42.

Prosecutors suggested a lockbox recovered from the rear yard of Lyons' South Side home may have been used to injure Mya, saying the medical examiner concluded that patterns found on the metal device were consistent with abrasions on her back, shoulder and upper arm.

In addition, two forensic experts determined that blood-splatter evidence found in Lyons' van indicated that is where Mya was stabbed, not in an alley behind his home where Lyons claimed to police he had found her, prosecutors alleged. There was no evidence Mya was sexually assaulted, they said.

After court, State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said prosecutors don't know of a specific motive, but she noted that Lyons had ordered Mya and her older brother home from a neighbor's house at about 11 p.m. About an hour later, he and his uncle drove a mortally wounded Mya to a hospital in his van.

"The inhumanity of a crime such as this is almost beyond comprehension," Alvarez told reporters.

"At worst, it's an art. It's no science at all," he said. "We look forward to challenging the so-called scientific evidence in this case because as far as I can tell, that's the only evidence in this case. The rest is just pure speculation."

Lyons, who was arrested Monday afternoon while working at his job in the radiology department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, appeared in court Wednesday still wearing blue hospital scrubs. He contended at the time of Mya's killing that he found her lifeless body in the weedy alley near his home.

Police interviewed Lyons but didn't initially consider him a suspect and let him drive the van home. Later that same morning, the interior of the van had already been cleaned, Assistant State's Attorney John Dillon said. Armed with a search warrant a few days later, police found an empty bleach bottle inside the van and much of the blood stains gone, he said.

Still, key evidence was uncovered, including blood spatter on a window shade and in vents inside the van, according to court records. Dillon said the Illinois State Police Crime Lab determined that the blood found in the van came from Mya.

A search of Lyons' house never turned up the bloody clothes he wore on the night of the killing, Dillon said.

Mya's mother, Ericka Barnes, who attended the bond hearing, said seeing her ex-boyfriend in custody finally brought some closure.

"Hearing it was terrible, but the evidence spoke for itself," said Barnes, tears streaming down her face. "I believe there is justice, and there was justice today in that courtroom."